"Just admit it old hag! You couldn't stand to see my success so your jealousy drove you to steal my designs," Walron argued. His face was all red with anger.
-Steal his designs? What is he talking about?-
"Walron don't be ridiculous! How could I possibly have stolen your designs? I got these from…"
Before Carole could finish her sentence, Walron stopped her, "Lies, all lies!"
Walron sought the attention of the onlooker who had gathered around to see the commotion.
"Can you believe this woman? Ladies and gentlemen, I am just an honest man trying to make an honest living and this old woman just wants to earn a quick buck. How can we let this sort of thing happen!" he was trying to get them to sympathise with him!
Carole was fuming with anger but she could not get the crowd to rally to her side. Vy knew she needed to do something. She pushed her way through the crowd and into the stall. She stood firmly between both of them.
As if on cue, Walron pointed at Vyrena and shouted, "YOU! You must be her spy! I knew you were up to no good when you came into my stall! You must be her spy!"
Vy looked at Walron dead in the eye. A fury burned strong within her, but she kept her calm.
"I? A spy," Vy scoffed in Walron's face.
The crowd was in shock, why was this young woman laughing in the face of an accusation?
"Don't make a fool of yourself, Walron. Do you have proof that you own these designs? Sure, only you and Carole carry these designs, but how can we be sure that it wasn't the other way round? That you stole her designs?"
Vy recalled from her work at Rodrick's that some of the documents included contract payments between merchants. She needed to use this information to her advantage!
"I know for a fact that both of you have ordered similar garments from the same merchant. That means if I were to go to the council to ask for the contracts, I would be able to find out who started ordering certain types of garments first!"
Vy looked down on the ground, that must be the garment in question! She picked it up and checked the label. Yes! This was the evidence she needed. Vy picked up the garment and showed it to Walron.
"Would you like to make a bet, Mr Walron? I just need to bring this garment to the council and they would be able to show me the contracts!"
Walron's face turned pale for a moment, but he was not going to back down so easily. Knowing he had already lost, anger took over him instantly.
"You brat!"
Walron threw a punch at Vyrena, shocking the crowd.
But to their surprise, she caught his hand in mid-air and glared at him. Her eyes were burning a dark coloured flame. Instantly, Walron's legs grew numb and he fell to the ground in fear. Vyrena released his hand but continued to glare at him.
"Now leave!"
Walron immediately scrambled out of the stall and down the street. Seeing that the commotion was over the crowd soon dispersed, with new customers entering the stall.
Vy turned over to Carole with her usual smile and asked, "Are you alright?"
Carole nodded as Vy helped her to rest on a chair. She went to the back to get her a cup of water and told her to rest while she served the customers.
"Thank you Vyrena. You saved me there."
"It's a small matter compared to everything you have done for me. What was with that anyways? He thinks you stole his designs? Has he lost his mind?"
Carole took a sip of water and explained. Apparently one of the merchants Carole and Walron purchased from had a heated argument with Walron over prices and quality. Walron accused the merchant of selling faulty products and the anger broke off the contract they had.
"Apparently he's been selling bad quality garments for some time to make more profit. He's probably just running on fumes."
For a moment, Vyrena felt bad for what happened to Walron. But the man got what he deserved. He was a smooth talker when it came to the customers but when a merchant's products don't match up to their words, they would never be able to keep their customers. That's one of the simplest rules of business.
Vy didn't think much of it and continued to serve the customers. The festivities were beginning to take shape and the town of Timbretune was happy and merry. Apple cider was being sold at the market stalls alongside festival snacks. Carole could see that Vy wanted to go and enjoy the festival too, but no matter how much she tried to convince Vy to go, she refused to go.
"Don't be silly, Carole. I could always go and have a look later. Besides, you need all the help you can get," Vy said as she helped another customer with the items they wanted to purchase.
Despite only having helped Carole for just a little over a week, Vy caught on with everything pretty swiftly. As each year had gone by, Carole was getting weaker and she wondered constantly for how many more years could she run her store. But with Vy helping, it might just make everything more plausible.
But she knew the girl wanted to be elsewhere, doing bigger things. Vyrena was not a girl that would be bound to a small town like this forever.
She was destined for greater things.